Julia M. OBrien

I love to read. I read non-fiction for my professional work as a biblical scholar, and the information and new perspectives transform the way I understand the biblical text.  Learning about the pervasive malnutrition of ancient diets and the infant mortality rate in ancient Israel (1 out of 2 children died before the age of 5) changed the way I approach Genesis, the prophets—indeed all of the Bible.  I occasionally read popular non-fiction, too--related to the Bible (The Year of Living Biblically) or to issues that I care about (The Way we Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap).  Non-fiction changes my thinking in useful ways.

But I am passionate about novels.  I read them whenever I can.

This weekend, my husband and I saw Julie and Julia (click for a link to the official website). The film is Nora Ephron's adaptation of two books: Julia Child's memoir My Life in France; and Julie Powell's Julie and Julia, which follows Powell's quest to prepare all 524 recipes in Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days and to blog about her experience.

The end of summer is always difficult for me.  My vegetable garden shrinks, in size and in its contribution to my physical and emotional well-being.  At some point, I'll have to break down and buy a store-bought tomato with the texture of cardboard and scramble to find fresh rosemary.  We won't roast vegetables or salmon on the grill.  And the spirituality of gardening will need to enter its dormant stage until May.

Summer's end also initiates Winter Dread, an affliction common to transplanted Southerners.

My "What's your Earliest Memory of a Bible Story?" poll has been up for 6 weeks.  As of today 75 people voted.  Thanks for all who joined in.

Since I'm not a trained poll-crafter, I'm not sure if the results really provide fresh data or are skewed by my selection of stories. But the winners of the poll didn't surprise me.

Do you have trouble staying asleep?  Doze off just fine but in a few hours find yourself wide awake, ready for conversation, a little TV, maybe a snack?

According to William Holladay, you're in good company.  You may be experiencing what ancient people knew well: segmented sleep.

Most schoolkids learn to recognize and draw the Fertile Crescent, that golden arch of arable land from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.  They learn about the ancient civilizations that blossomed there--the Sumerians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians.

This summer has not been kind to my backyard garden.  After a few weeks of prolific production, my squash and cucumber plants succumbed to powdery mildew.  Now, just as they are supposed to ripen in full glory, my tomatoes (the bread and butter of my garden) are waging war with late blight.  It’s been too wet here in south central Pennsylvania.  Not hot enough.

Review of Kevin Roose, The Unlikely Disciple:  A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University.  Grand Central Publishing, 2009.